Summer of '25: India, China agree to resume Kailash Mansarovar yatra; many other proposals announced

New Delhi: India and China have agreed in principle to resume direct air services between the two countries and the relevant technical authorities will negotiate an updated framework for the purpose at an early date.

The two sides also decided to resume Kailash Mansarovar yatra this summer. The relevant mechanism will discuss modalities for doing so as per existing pacts, officials said.

This was decided during the visit of foreign secretary Vikram Misri to China on Sunday-Monday. The direct air services and Kailash Mansarovar yatra remain suspended since the Covid pandemic and Galwan crisis.


Specific concerns in economic and trade areas were discussed with a view to resolve these issues and promote long-term policy transparency and predictability, officials said. Trade ties have been heavily skewed in favour of China.

It is understood that the two sides also discussed normalisation of visas and de-escalation along LAC.

As agreed between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping in Kazan in October, the two sides reviewed India-China bilateral ties comprehensively and agreed to take people-centric steps to stabilise and rebuild ties, according to an MEA readout. Senior officials of India and China agreed to hold an early meeting of the expert-level mechanism to discuss resumption of provision of hydrological data and other cooperation relating to trans-border rivers.

The two sides recognise that 2025, being the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between India and China, should be utilised to redouble diplomacy efforts to create better awareness about each other and restore mutual trust and confidence among the public.

It was agreed to resume dialogues step by step and to utilise them to address each other's priority areas, officials informed. Misri met foreign minister Wang Yi among others.

The trip was preceded by the visit of NSA Ajit Doval to Beijing in December and a meeting between Wang and EAM S Jaishankar in November.